To Flock or Not to Flock: The Question of Surveillance Cameras

One of this week's big stories has been the controversy over Flock cameras. I first saw it mentioned in an August 6 Facebook post that went like this:

Honest question: Why are people against Automated License Plate Readers (flock cameras)? I am not going to comment, I want to get people’s point of view! Thanks!

There were more than 50 comments. 

Evidently it's a pretty big deal because The Atlantic has a feature story titled In Defense of Flock and the NYTimes published a major story this week as well, titled Flock Cameras Can Track Every Car in America. Police Love Them. Citizens Don’t. 

My first thoughts, as is often the case, were contradictory. On the positive side of the ledger is the idea that stolen cars will be more rapidly apprehended. Criminal behavior will be, to some degree, curtailed. 

Simultaneously I thought of the ubiquitous presence of Big Brother in Orwell's 1984.  

Charles Fain Lehman's piece in The Atlantic carries the subtitle, Police cameras can help make the criminal-justice system both fairer and less punitive—if we let them. The subtitle on the Times story telegraphs its angle as well: In Texas, there’s one thing liberals and conservatives agree on: They don’t want cameras trained on their cars.

One of my concerns with de-Flocking (eliminating cameras) is that our police are already handicapped in so many ways that it has become a challenge to catch legitimate criminals. If my car is stolen, I like the idea that police can find it before some nutcase crashes it into a tree, like someone did to my neighbor's car 30 years ago, or hustles it off to a chop shop. The Times story notes that Boulder, Colorado has seen a decline in car thefts by more than a third since these cameras were installed.

The Times story also highlights some abuses that have already occurred. 

One difference between Flock and the cameras that began appearing in Duluth 15 or 20 years ago is that this new system is interconnected to a massive database. Another is that it's AI-powered. (Purportedly 70% of the country is connected. There are Flock cameras in every state except Alaska.)

We've seen censorship on social media instigated by our government. There are other ways a surveillance culture can take a dark turn. 

Here is a comment from X about Flock cameras:

@Wall Street Apes
Flock advertises these cameras as simple license plate readers. But their own patents tell a different story. They're AI-powered surveillance machines that capture every passing vehicle and person and transmit that data to a private corporate cloud, making it queryable by a multitude of state and federal agencies.

A quick review of other comments on X seem to support dismantling the cameras, as if vandalism were heroic. 

Jason Koebler on BlueSky posted: New: Regretful cities are literally covering their Flock cameras with black trash bags because they cannot figure out how to immediately exit their surveillance contracts or get the cameras taken down:

Someone else posted that all eight Flock cameras in Winona have been stolen.

Here's a story from KSTP in Minneapolis:

Flock cameras across Minnesota are being vandalized in response to data privacy concerns

SO, What do you think?  Leave a comment.

In Defense of Flock

Police cameras can help make the criminal-justice system both fairer and less punitive—if we let them.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/08/flock-safety-cameras-ai-surevillance/688219/?utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20260810&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&lctg=656b49758e7913743006ce3d&utm_term=The%20Atlantic%20Daily

Flock Cameras Can Track Every Car in America. Police Love Them. Citizens Don’t. 

In Texas, there’s one thing liberals and conservatives agree on: They don’t want cameras trained on their cars.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/10/us/flock-cameras-can-track-every-car-in-america-police-love-them-citizens-dont.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20260811&instance_id=180194&nl=from-the-times&regi_id=123953394&segment_id=224550&user_id=c5de7e4b28d36066d31878b87617b3c2